Had this once. Guy was educated, professional, no history, but on Ambien.
He got up, cycled half the mag through and then discharged a round into the first floor. No one hurt (he had kids but they slept on 2d floor).
Resolved this with exercise, Valerian root and getting off Ambien!
Was he a Kennedy???
You aren't taking Ambien, are you?
I once sleep-drove a fork lift for 2 hours...A good friend of mine has done many strange things while "asleep" on Ambien. He once ate a whole pie in one sitting while talking with his wife. He had gone to bed after taking his Ambien. Came back out of the bedroom and went to eating on the pie. On another occasion he had also attempted to fly an RC helicopter in his hobby room. He would never try this under normal circumstances.
I know another buddy who woke up in bed with his nightstand gun in his hand.
Some people are completely capable of doing anything in their sleep with their eyes wide open.
My nighttime piece is in the nightstand but I can't reach it while in bed. I at least have to sit up on the side of the bed to get to it.
Matt
I once sleep-drove a fork lift for 2 hours...
I am not talking about simple operations.
I was in a tightly cramped factory with attached warehouse. Going from the manufacturing line with crates of product navigating pedestrian walkways and narrow aisles between machines/lines, into the warehouse, putting the crates in their appropriate places, and back to my line, once per 5 minutes. The space to swing my lift in to pick up a crate off the line gave me about 1" of clearance between the back of my lift and a metal support for the ceiling [i-beam] and about an inch in the front between the forks and the crates on the line.
The only thing I remember is waking up half way through slamming on my brakes to keep from driving into a huge hole they cut in the concrete floor to repair something under the concrete [busted pipe of some kind? Don't remember]. I left skid marks. The next thing I remember is waking up 2 hours later feeling like I got a full night's rest and feeling like a million bucks.
The lift driver on the line next to me asked me, "Did you know you were driving your lift around with your eyes closed and you were snoring quietly?"
I couldn't do it again if you offered me $100,000,000 to make it happen - but I did it that night and I can't say why/how. I was literally asleep and auto-pilot.
I have also gotten up in my sleep and cooked whole dinners, ate them, and then got back to sleep with no memory of it.
Since I've been practicing proper 'sleep hygiene' according to my doctor and the sleep specialist I've not had any such issues. Getting the appropriate amount of sleep and setting myself up for good sleep [involving about 2 hours of relaxation/shutting down prior to going to bed] has been incredibly important.
No one said "mental" and I'm not saying it. However, this is a physical problem. This one incident. You are on notice now. The first time you have a problem, and this is an unusual one, is a good time to get checked out. If you are bound and determined not to, that is your business, but your body gave you a warning shot...which could have killed someone.
This is why I think it happened for.I had about 4-5 hours of sleep in 3 days and when that happens I do weird things. My g/f has told me she has had some conversations with me while sleeping and I had no idea what I said or remember even talking to her. I have a busy life so sometimes I don't get proper sleep.
HoughMade I am not discounting what advice you gave me.Things could of been way worse and I could of shot one of my kids.It's a serious matter and I handled it the best way one could without seeing a Dr and I bought a new safe and it will take me more time to get into having to push 6 digits and the # to unlock and then turn the knob to open it. I really hope this never happens again. I have been around guns for 20 years so I am not new to them. I think my Doctor would just tell me to get rid of the guns and not do any further testing. That's kind of how healthcare works anymore thanks to Obamacare.
The safe I picked up is a Pitbull safe and I put the gun in it with the magazine in but no rounds chambered. I just did take the gun out for the first time since I put it in there Wed before bed.I work a dangerous job and would not work it without a firearm with me. For now,the only time it will come out of the safe is when I work nights or go to the range. I am still a little nervous about it and what happened so for me it is just better to have it out when I need it and leave it locked up the rest of the time.
I am glad to see others realize this is serious and can happen to anyone.Not in a million years would I of thought this would happen to me,but it did and I have dealt with it and moving on. I'll eventually carrying on my off days but for now,I will keep doing what I am. Also the safe I bought,the keypad doesn't light up so it makes it harder for me to see the numbers. Took me a few tries to get it out when the boss called me into work a little bit ago.
I believe HoughMade is making more of observation that you should see a sleep specialist because you were "operating" while completely asleep...not just because there was a gun involved. The same advice would be given if you said you got out of bed, went outside, started your car, then went back to bed (just an example)....
Me neither. I never do anything asleep (other than sleep and my wife says snore and break wind (both of which I deny)). I wake up easily if there is any noise or movement in the house. So I will keep my loaded Glock in the nightstand.This has made me rethink my nightstand approach.
How do you normally keep it when not on your person. It sounds like you remove the magazine and unchamber the loaded round? That is a very bad idea. If you do not trust yourself the firearm should be locked up. It sounds like you have been setting yourself up for failure. There is no reason to unload a carry gun unless cleaning and lubing...as a firearm is no good without one in the chamber. We are creatures of habit. My guess is that somewhere in your unconscious you were going through the motions you normally go through...this time when you pulled the trigger it was loaded not unloaded like normal. Get out of the habit of unloading at night and never pull the trigger unless you have checked the chamber.
Shawn156,
Your experience mirrors an incident that happened to one of my employees...
He was sitting in a staff meeting we were having. My back was turned as I was writing on the whiteboard. All of a sudden an empty drinking glass crashes into the board and shatters about a foot left of my head.
I spin around and two of my employees have my assistant restrained on the floor. He's freaking out, I'm freaking out.
He had absolutely no memory or knowledge of picking up the glass and throwing it at me (his boss). He remembers coming into the meeting and the next thing being tackled on the floor. If it would have been ANYONE else, I would have considered that he was lying and trying to save his job. Instead, I sent him to the hospital.
After about a day of testing, etc. They determined that the active ingredient in the stop smoking patches he had been using was the cause. Apparently in like 1% of the population there's something some abnormal reaction that causes 'waking' dreams.
He had to discontinue the patches and quit smoking cold turkey. It took him a several months to act 'right' again. I think part of that was also due to the fact that he attacked his boss who also happens to be a close friend.
The doctor told him that there have been reports of people driving, cooking, having sex, etc. without their knowledge due to an interaction in this small group of susceptible people.